CRITICS' CHOICE: Get Some Southern Hospitality

We pride ourselves on our bounteous Southern hospitality here in Nashville, so who's gonna explain this: On Thursday, as thousands of country music fans gathered downtown for CMA Fest and thousands more fans of every musical genre you can think of were headed southward for the Bonnaroo Music Festival - just another summer in Tennessee, mind you - a truck spilled its load all over Interstate 65-S, adding to the hot, humid atmosphere with a whole mess of fish parts. Yep, you heard it right: smelly, disgusting fish parts baking on the hot asphalt under the blazing sun.

Sorry, y'all! But we have a great idea for you if you're visiting Music City and Middle Tennessee this weekend or even if you're a native Nashvillian: How about moving into the cool confines of a darkened theater and seeing some more of Tennessee's most amazing talent live and onstage! Now, that's what Southern hospitality is all about...

Southern hospitality is served up with a groaning board of traditional culinary delights at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theater, where last night a new comedy opened as Martha Wilkinson directs Nobody's Perfect, which runs through July 19. Check back this weekend for our review!

Mary Poppins is set to fly over the rooftops of London and into the Cumberland County Playhouse beginning tonight, June 12, and continuing through August 16! This high-flying family musical features delightful songs from the classic Disney film including the Academy Award-winning "Chim Chim Cheree," "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Step in Time" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and has been the winner of 44 major theatre awards from around the globe.

Mary Poppins has captivated audiences for generations with its enchanting story, unforgettable songs and dazzling dance numbers. Mary Poppins is the story of a mysterious nanny who magically appears at the Banks household in Edwardian London to care for Jane and Michael Banks. Adventure abounds as she whisks them away to meet dancing chimney sweeps, shopkeepers and an array of colorful characters. Nicole Bégué Hackmann will return to the Playhouse stage as Mary Poppins and Jake Delaney will play Bert.

Nicole Bégué Hackmann has appeared in dozens of Playhouse productions since 2003, including My Fair Lady, Ragtime, LES MISERABLES, The King and I, A Little Night Music, Camelot and many more.Jake Delaney made his Playhouse debut in April as Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain.

Playhouse favorites Jason Ross and Lauren Marshall play Mr. and Mrs. Banks. Each of the Banks children will feature two different young actors alternating in the roles. Jane Banks will be played by Sophie Burnett and Sara Swafford, while Simon Berman and Eli Choate will share the role of Michael Banks. Rounding out the cast are Kathryn Berman, Daniel Black, Cory Clark, Kevin Corkum, Jensen Crain, John Dobbratz, Molly Dobbs, DeAnna Etchison, Katherine Walker Hill, Carol Irvin, Lina Lee, Lindsey Mapes, Jennie Nasser, Patty Payne, Kate Louise Prender, Evan Price, Angela Robbins, Michael Ruff, Chaz Sanders, Chance Wall and Weslie Webster.

Director Britt Hancock (Singin' in the Rain, Damn Yankees) said of the show, "Mary Poppins is all about magic... and no theater I know does theatrical magic better than the Cumberland County Playhouse. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to help bring this wonderful story to life." Resident choreographer Leila Nelson will bring the high stepping (and sometimes high flying) dance numbers to life.

Special effects in the CCP production of Mary Poppins will be provided by Hall Associates Flying Effects. Associate Producing Director Bryce McDonald said, "We have a long association with this nationally and internationally respected theatrical flying service. We've used their services in productions like Peter Pan, Flight of the Lawnchair Man and Beauty & the Beast, and now they'll make Mary Poppins fly over the Playhouse stage!!"

Equipped with plenty of heart, wit and courage, Studio Tenn Theatre Company will travel to Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center and transform it into an opulent Emerald City for its season finale production of The Wizard of Oz, live on stage June 13-14.

Sure to enchant audiences of all ages, this lavishly staged and costumed production backed by a full symphony orchestra will take place Saturday, June 13 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 14 at 2 p.m., plus a newly added performance at 7 p.m. For tickets, visit StudioTenn.com or call the Schermerhorn Box Office at (615) 687-6400.

For the starring role of Dorothy, Studio Tenn has tapped Broadway's Diana DeGarmo, who rose to fame as the runner-up on American Idol in 2004. Since that debut, she has starred in Hairspray and Hair on Broadway. Recently, she co-starred in a national touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat alongside her husband and fellow American Idol veteran, Ace Young.

"I'm so excited to be working with Studio Tenn in what is shaping up to be a truly magnificent theatre experience," said DeGarmo. "It is a thrill to take on the iconic role of Dorothy in such an imaginative, innovative production in my own hometown."

The rest of the cast comprises an abundance of Nashville talent, including Studio Tenn veterans Graham Keen as the Scarecrow, Patrick Waller as the Cowardly Lion, Greg Maheu as the Tin Man, Laura Matula as the Wicked Witch of the West, Megan Murphy Chambers as Glinda the Good Witch, and Matthew Carlton as The Wizard/Professor Marvel, as well as 42 local munchkins, cast through a collaboration with The Theater Bug.

Studio Tenn's Artistic Director Matt Logan said, "The Wizard of Oz is, in a word, magical."

While the iconic film's influence will certainly be felt, Logan assures that Studio Tenn's Wizard will be far from a mere rerun. "We want to pay homage to where this classic story has been and what it has looked like in the past, but at the same time, we feel the best, most genuine way to honor its spirit of imagination is to unleash our own," Logan said.

As a rule, the company's innovative interpretations of classic theatre titles are anything but cookie-cutter. "At Studio Tenn, we don't make copies, and we don't serve up leftovers," Logan said. "We believe that our audience deserves more, and that the pieces we take on deserve a fresh perspective. We start with the source material, and we invite other adaptations and derivations to inspire our work, but never to dictate it."

Managing Director Jake Speck explains that this approach is central to Studio Tenn's mission to use a rich combination of talent from Nashville and Broadway to bring classic works of drama and musical theatre to life in Middle Tennessee. "It is a dream come true for us to create live theatre of this caliber and this scale right here in our own backyard," said Speck. "There truly is no place like home."

Playing at Franklin's Pull-Tight Theatre is The Dixie Swim Club, by the wonderfully Southern and hilarious trio of Jones/Hope/Wooten. Running through June 20, go to www.pull-tight.com for reservations.

In the show, five Southern ladies celebrate August and their share friendships to leave the trappings and demands of their lives behind and convene at a beach cottage in the Outer Banks of North Carolina to recharge their strong bond.

The Dixie Swim Club looks in on four of those weekends over a 33-year history, catching up with spunky Sheree, overachieving Dinah, pampered Lexie, self-deprecating Vernadette and sweet Jeri as they help keep each other afloat in the sometimes deep end of life's pool. Playwrights Jones, Hope and Wooten fill The Dixie Swim Club with some of their most complex characters in this funny and poignant cap to our season. Lynn Yates and Beth Woodruff lead the cast.

Jim Manning directs ACT 1's production of Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God, which opened last Friday night and continues through this Saturday night at Darkhorse Theatre...and there's a special midnight - pay-what-you-can - show tonight!

Here's what I wrote in my review after opening night: "Royal's obvious affection for the characters and for Peanuts is evident: It's easy to see how they might be imagined in his bleak outlook for their future selves. He has each character down pat; in fact, it's as if they've been reimagined in a computer-generated aging technique used by authorities to continue searches for lost or stolen children long after they've been abducted. The result isn't pretty, but it is provocative and even despite its intended shock value, quite thoughtful in its presentation.

Admittedly, perhaps I have given far too much thought to the whole milieu created by Royal, but something happened during the show that made me delve deeper into the show's psyche than I had originally planned. You see, in the play we discover that C.B. (he's really Charlie Brown, but keep that under your hat for intellectual property purposes) has just buried his dog after a particularly horrific episode (Snoopy allegedly ripped Woodstock to shreds in a rabies-fueled tirade so C.B.'s unseen parents had to have him put down). C.B. - played with focused intensity leavened with an almost indescribable lightness by the remarkably versatile Grafton Thurman - then sets off on a journey of discovery, trying to determine who he is, why his friends are so indifferent to his loss and where life will eventually take him."

Manning's cast includes Lipscomb University theater alum Grafton Thurman as CB; Cassie Hamilton as CB's sister; BWW Nashville Theatre Awards winner Justin Boyd as Van; Belmont University alumna Gina D'Arco as Van's sister; Hillary Morris as Marcy; Christopher Heinz as Beethoven; Austin Peay State University alum Steven Howie as Matt; and Morgan Dorris as Tricia.

Curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. for Thursday, Friday (and a midnight show tonight!) and Saturday night performances, with Sunday matinee on June 7 at 2:30 p.m. For further information, including how to buy tickets to a performance, go to www.act1online.com.

Street Theatre Company continues its 10th anniversary season - every show this season is pay-what-you-can at the company's new/old home at Bailey STEM Middle School - with the Nashville premiere of Dogfight, the off-Broadway hit by the contemporary musical theater team of Pasek and Paul.

Dogfight originally opened in New York in 2012 and, after receiving rave reviews and numerous awards, made its way to the London stage in 2014. Following its initial success, regional theaters in both the United States and Europe will be mounting productions of Dogfight this year. Written by Ben Pasek, Justin Paul, and Peter Duchan, Dogfight won the Lucille Lortell award for Best Musical. Set in the 1960s at the start of the Vietnam War, Dogfight takes audiences on a romantic and heartbreaking theatrical journey. On the eve of their deployment, three young Marines set out for one final boys' night of debauchery, partying, and maybe a little trouble.

From my review of the show: "With a musical score that shows the heavy influence of Sondheim-infused theater on contemporary composers, Dogfight seems almost timeless, and certainly the story could be set during any time of war and have much the same impact. But here in America, while we still struggle to define the role of the Vietnam conflict and its aftermath on our nation's psyche and our shared sense of patriotic fervor and confusion about what that undeclared war really meant to each of us, the story is more potent and potentially more devastating. The answers don't come easy...they didn't 40 or 50 years ago...and still today we seem uncertain and somewhat reluctant to seek them out.

"While Eddie, his friends Boland and Berstein and the rest of their band of brothers, engage in a night of debauchery, full of bravado and the brashness of young men about to embark upon a grand adventure, the political ramifications of the conflict in Southeast Asia are just beginning to simmer. It's that four year stretch between Eddie's visits to San Francisco during which public opinion boils over and everyone's preconceived notions of American exceptionalism were first called into question.

"Those socially combustible elements provide the backdrop for what transpires during that initial trip to the city by the bay. As has been Marine tradition for years, Eddie and his friends stage a dogfight, a gathering of the testosterone-fueled young men who have each put $50 in a pot to award to the winner of a misogynistic contest to find the ugliest girl in town. It's on his search for a winning candidate that Eddie meets Rose in a shabby diner and sets out to woo her and convince her to be his date.

Dogfight stars Belmont graduate Jens Jacobson as Eddie Birdlace and recent Nashville transplant Audrey Johnson as Rose, and there's a fresh-faced ensemble of estimable Nashville actors who bring the moving and provocative story to life under Cathy Street's direction.

Dogfight runs June 5-21 at Street Theatre Company's new location in East Nashville, Bailey Middle School. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets are available by visiting www.streettheatrecompany.org or by calling (615) 554-7414 and prices are pay-what-you-can.

Linda Sue Simmons stars as country icon Patsy Cline as Gaslight Dinner Theatre continues its 15th Anniversary Season with its 69th show with A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline - a musical about the legendary country singer by Dean Regan. The show opened last week at The Renaissance Center in Dickson, running through tomorrow night Saturday, June 13.

Featuring Linda Sue Simmons (White Christmas; 9 to 5; Sound of Music; Hello, Dolly!; Honky Tonk Angels; Noises Off) in the title role, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline is a tribute to her spirit and a celebration of the music of her life. Combining flashbacks from WNIC's Little Big Man, played by Curtis LeMoine-Reed (The Andrews Brothers; Memphis; Legally Blond; Spamalot; Little Shop of Horrors), and visiting various venues from Patsy's climb to stardom, the show blends theatre, music and comedy into a magical evening for all audiences.

Simmons and LeMoine-Reed are joined by some of Nashville's hottest musicians as Patsy's band members and backup singers featuring Alex Spann, Adam Wooten, Alec Newman, Tom D'Angelo, Dale Herr, Stephanie Wright and Zane Jordan.

Here's my take on the show after its debut last Thursday: "When I was a little boy, my older sister Charlotte had this huge console stereo with a turntable upon which she'd spin her favorite records and which would, every night of my young life, lull me to sleep to a musical score that featured the biggest musical hits of the day. Obviously, my eclectic musical tastes today can be traced to that experience, my life underscored by a wide variety of artists and songs which can still transport me to another time and place.

"That will also explain my rapturous response to the performance of A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, a dramatized tribute to the country music superstar that opened at Dickson's Gaslight Dinner Theater on Thursday, June 4, running for a much-too-short two weekends at what was once known as The Renaissance Center, but is now called Freed-Hardeman University Dickson (talk about hitting close to home: I grew up fewer than 15 miles from Freed-Hardeman's home campus in Henderson).

"Filled to overflowing with some of Cline's most beloved hit songs (which may lead to your eyes overflowing...if, like me, you remember clearly the night Cline was killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, in 1963 when I was not yet six years old), A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline will draw comparisons by some to Ted Swindley's Always, Patsy Cline, which introduced the world to the artistry of another woman by the name of Mandy Barnett, who should be venerated along with Cline, what with her beautiful voice and exquisite performances. But somehow, A Closer Walk... somehow seems more personal in its own way - maybe it's because of the intimate nature of the Gaslight's venue - or perhaps it is the remarkable performance of Linda Sue Simmons, who will blow you away in a portrayal that all actors aspire to but are rarely given the opportunity."

Delicious luncheon and dinner buffets begin one hour before show time at the Gaslight Dinner Theatre. Price includes buffet, desserts, beverage and show. Gratuity not included. For reservations, call (615) 740-5600 or go online at www.gaslightdinnertheatre.org.

Meanwhile, in Donelson - at The Larry Keeton Theatre - the classic Broadway musical Guys and Dolls opened last night, running through June 20th at the Senior Center for the Arts, 108 Donelson Pike. Jenny Norris-Light, Tyler Osborne, Hallie Long and Brian Best star in the show, directed and music directed by Ginger Newman, with choreography by Cary Street.

With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, the resulting show was a blockbuster during the 1950 Broadway season. Still employing Runyon's style of mixing highly formal language with colloquial slang, Loesser, Swerling and Burrows, created a funny send-up of the gangsters, gamblers, showgirls of New York City's underworld and nightclubs.

Opening night was not without its hiccups, due to the untimely withdrawal of one leading player who had to be replaced, but the resulting performance was remarkably smooth: "Is there anything more magical or more transformative than live theater? Honestly, I can't think of anything which can take you from the depths of despair to the fanciful heights of imagination so quickly - and there certainly is no art form in which things can change so capriciously or quicker, either for good or bad.

"Take The Larry Keeton Theatre's production of Guys and Dolls, for example, directed by Ginger Newman and choreographed by Cary Street. Featuring one of musical theater's most beloved scripts and scores, it's a surefire winner any time it's revived onstage (well, save for that one Broadway revival with Lorelai Gilmore aka Lauren Graham as Miss Adelaide that was pretty much laid waste to by critics) and it takes a hefty amount of flotsam to halt the show. Case in point: Earlier this week, a scant 24-plus hours before opening night at the theater in Donelson, a leading player had to drop out of the production due to family matters beyond his control and a search was on for a last-minute replacement for the role of Sky Masterson.

"Luckily, for Newman and Street - and the remaining three members of the show's quartet of stars, Jenny Norris-Light, Hallie Long and Brian Best - Tyler Osborne was just a phone call away and, in just over 24 hours, the show opened on-time and in-place for what is sure to be a successful run that audiences are, frankly, going to love. Now, that's live theater for you, with all the magic and creativity of which you could dream. On a whim, it seems, circumstances can change, a new window opening when a door closes."

Performances at The Larry Keeton Theatre are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, starting at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays starting at 2:00 p.m. Each performance is preceded by a three-course meal; dinner seating begins at 5:45 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets range from $15 to $28; for specific ticket information, call (615) 883-8375 or at www.thelarrykeetontheatre.org or www.ticketsnashville.com.

The only thing funnier than a Southern funeral is a Southern wedding! Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury presents Southern Fried Nuptials, written by Nashville's own Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, running through June 13, with curtain at 7:30 p.m.

The charmingly funny Frye family is back and this time they are going to get married. Or maybe not? The engagement of Attie VanLeer and Harline Frye has been on again, off again more times than a drunken frat boy on a mechanical bull. Now half the town has been invited, the dress has been fitted, the flowers have been ordered and the gifts are piling up in the living room. Will they or won't they? You'll have to find out in this hysterical hit comedy from the authors of Southern Fried Funeral.

Directed by Donald Fann and produced by Brittany Goodwin, Southern Fried Nuptials features many familiar faces including Melanie Nistad, Rachel Parker, Brittany Goodwin, Mike Reed, Greg Ray, Candilyn Ford, John Goodwin, Hunter Thaw, Terri Ritter, Bobby Ray and Donna Seage. Ticket prices are $13 with discounts available for seniors and full-time students.

Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Tickets are available now by calling the box office at 615-563-2787 or online at www.artscenterofcc.com and (subject to availability) at the door one hour prior to show time.